The man told police he got off a Madison Metro bus at the West Transfer Point Tuesday afternoon and realized he left his phone inside the bus. When he went back on the bus he couldn’t find his phone.

Hours later, the man used tracking software to determine the phone was in the liquor department at Copps Food Center on Whitney Way. He told police that when he went there he found a man who had been on the bus with him.

Police said when the victim asked the man about the phone, he got angry, clenched his fists and threatened to hit the man and a woman who was with him.

They called police as the man got on a bus.

Officers later tracked the phone to Jesse M. Howe, 31, and arrested him on suspicion of theft, two counts of disorderly conduct, bail jumping, possession of illegally obtained prescriptions, and on a warrant.